Inledning: Dagens samhälle präglas av en snabb teknikutveckling där ungdomars läsvanor har förändrats. Teknikanvändning utgör en stor del av ungdomars liv vilket betyder att läsning av skönlitteratur bortprioriteras allt oftare. Skolans styrdokument uppmanar verksamheten att inspirera ungdomar till att vilja läsa mer. Idag är kunskapen om elevers läsvanor, motivation och attityder tämligen viktigt att känna till för yrkesverksamma inom skolan. Genom att använda kunskapen om elevers läsvanor och vad som motiverar dem kan svensklärare bidra till ökad läslust. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera skillnader mellan pojkars och flickors läsmotivation, attityder till läsning av skönlitteratur och hur deras läsvanor ser ut, samt identifiera vilka faktorer som påverkar läsvanor, motivation och attityder. Metod: Den metod som har används i denna studie är kvantitativ metod med enkät som verktyg. En av fördelarna är att den möjliggör svar från flera respondenter där informationen kan analyseras statistiskt och generaliseras. Resultat: Resultaten visar att det finns skillnader mellan flickor och pojkars läsvanor och läsning av skönlitteratur, men även att hemmet påverkar barns läsvanor. Resultatet visar också att valet av litteratur och intressen påverkar elevers läsvanor. Båda könen har låg motivation till att läsa skönlitteratur och de prioriterar andra aktiviteter före läsning, exempelvis sociala medier, tv/datorspel och idrottsaktiviteter. Det visar sig även att flickorna har mer positiv attityd till läsning än pojkarna.

This study aims to investigate how pupils in secondary school, who are used to digital educational materials, experience reading and navigating on a computer compared to reading and navigating on paper, to what extent they read in respective format and how they choose to consume different types of texts. Moreover it aims to find out if this differs in regards to gender. To answer our questions we carried out a reading test and created a follow-up survey for the target group to answer. Our conclusions are that: digital texts might be perceived as longer than printed texts since it is more difficult to get an overview, boys seem to have less trouble navigating in digital texts than girls do because of their experience of computer games, the pupils overall spend very little time on reading but when they do there is a small favor for the digital format and that the pupils tend to favourize the printed format for consuming longer texts.

The use of smartphones, computers and tablets among teenagers in the ages of 13-16 are increasing and their time to read in their leisure time are decreasing. The aim of this study is to examine if the public libraries can increase this target group´s leisure reading with electronic media. To aquire this information, four questions were asked; what kind of reading comprehension does they have today? What kind of digital habits do they have? How do they use the library today? How can libraries increase the availability of electronic media for this target group? Group interviews were used to answer these questions and qualitative content analysis to analyze the empirical information. The theory used for analyzing the results were literacy. The conclusion is that their reading comprehension was depending on how much they read in school, on schedule. As long as they had reading on schedule they more often brought their books home to read. Most of them experienced that they didn´t get enough information about electronic media from the library and what they are offering. Most of them thought that they would use electronic media more if they got more information and education about it. The majority had used or used audio books. The supply of electronic media and above all e-books, in the public libraries are dependent of their budgets because the costs of e-books are still relatively expensive. A consequence is that the libraries tightens their supply instead of increasing it.

The aim of this thesis is to study the reading habits of Swedish librarians visualized by librarians from Götabiblioteken – a collaboration of 14 public libraries in mid-Sweden – focusing on the reading done on their spare time, even if work-related. We started with a survey sent out to 74 librarians in October 2013, answered by 56, and followed up by interviewing 7 of them in November.We tried to answer these questions:To what extent does the working librarians read on their spare time compared to before they started working?What literature do they read, now compared to before they started working?To what extent does their perception of what they should have read affect their private reading?In what way does a librarian in the beginning of their career differ in reading habits from the reading habits of a librarian with many years in the profession?The result of our study shows that most of the librarians read as much or more than before they started to work. They are more selective in their choice of literature and are affected by their work in it in different ways. Their perception of what is needed affect their reading habits, but this seems to come from themselves and not from other librarians or the public. The answer to our last question is inconclusive, but it seems like the pressure lifts with experience.Librarians in this study put a lot of their free time into their work, in the form of reading. / Program: Bibliotekarie

A study around some fourteen and fifteen year old boys, who are interested in reading. It is about their reading and library habits, what has created their interest and where they acquire access to literature. A certain amount deals with the habits of the boys’ school-friends in this subject. The result compares with earlier made reports. The study is built on interviews between six boys, a children librarian at a public library and a school librarian. Furthermore, a questionnaire has been carried out among 79 school-friends to the interviewed boys. The result of the report indicates that the foundation of the boys’ reading interests begins at an early age within the family and mainly through their mothers’ influence. The boys’ main access to literature is acquired mostly in the home in the families’ own library. The boys prefer to buy their own books, rather than visiting the public library. The reason for this is that they do not feel at home in the library. They have difficulties in finding what they want. The supply of popular literature and music is limited. On the contrary, they are busy visitors to the school library, where they feel more at home. The supply is there more adapted to their demands. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how nuns regard reading. The reading of the Bible is a regular element in their everyday life. This study however, focuses mainly on the nuns’ self-chosen reading beyond the reading of the Bible. We explore the benefit they gain from reading and if life in convent influences their reading. Qualitative interviews were used and eight nuns, between 46-79 years of age, at four different convents, were interviewed. The analysis is based on two theories. First, we use Sten Furhammar’s model, which includes four functions of reading. The second theory, a model presented by Björn Viktröm, focuses on the understanding of a text. The model includes three stages of interpretation. The result shows that nuns reading habits are influenced by the culture of the convent. A central motive for their reading is spiritual growth. They keep contact with their cultural roots and the reading of hagiographies (biographies of saints) seems to strengthen their identity as nuns. We also found that the nuns have developed an interpretative way of reading. Through history, the Bible has been the object for interpretation. The nuns’ reading of the Bible, seems to influence their reading of other forms of literature. When speaking of literature and reading, they use concepts that indicate an experience in analysing texts. In other areas their reading habits are similar to that of people in general. They read the news and seem anxious to stay informed of issues of society. All informants read detective novels for relaxation. A general impression, however, is that the nuns are particular in their reading. They demand quality when it comes to language, characteristics and literature in general. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate the reading habits of six men who do not read fiction. The reason for my interest is the fact that men statistically read less fiction than women, and that there are few existing studies of this subject. The study investigates why these men do not read fiction, their attitudes towards literature, their reading habits, their leisure-time interests and if they experience fiction from other activities. Furthermore the study includes a discussion of whether or not there might be a connection between the men’s reading habits and their identity as men, as well as a discussion of all of the above in relation to their social background. The study is built on qualitative interviews among six men. The theories used to analyse the results have emanated from the research of Elaine Millard, showing that boys view reading as an activity for women, as well as from Sten Furhammar’s model for reading preferences. The result shows that the men often read for utilitarian purposes. They read to acquire knowledge, which they think fiction cannot provide. Some of them stress the lack of habit to read fiction. Some indicate that fiction is for women. The importance for some of the men that reading should be useful, might be attributable to their male identity. One of the respondents differs from the others since he previously used to read a great deal of fiction, but stopped a few years ago. This study shows a considerable relationship between parental encouragement to read and/or social background and the men’s reading habits as adults. / Uppsatsnivå: D

The aim of this study is to investigate how a number of fathers read and what their perceptions of both their own readingand the reading they experience with their child/children look like. I also want to investigate their thoughts about the importance of reading to children. The study is based upon qualitative interviewswith four fathers who are active readers and have children between 3-6 years of age. The analysis does not offer any generalizations. As a conceptual framework for this study, I used Sten Furhammar’s categories of different types of reading to find out what fathers reading habits look like and what they wish to obtain. I also used Bo Møhl & May Schack’s different functions of children’s literature to identify what kind of reading habits fathers have together with their children and which motives that can be seen behind this reading. Fathers own reading habits can be explained by Furhammars category impersonal - instrumentalreading that associates with the quest for objective knowledge. The most common function of children’s literature that appeared in fathers reading with their children was the informative anddeductive category and the function of the literature as an instrument in the development of the children. The result of this study also shows that fathers think that reading is a valuable activity. Reasons mentioned for reading are being together,language and fantasy stimulation and knowledge about the surrounding world. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate reading habits among parents of preschool children who do not use the public library. Another aim has been to investigate why these parents don’t use the library and if there is anything the library can do to change this. Little research had earlier been done on this subject. The theoretical framework consists of two different models. One is Andersson´s and Skot-Hansen´s model of the four different roles of the public library. The other is Jochumsen´s and Hvenegaard Rasmussen´s model of social space and lifestyles. To answer my questions I have carried out interviews with five parents. In order to find interviewees I first distributed a questionnaire via different preschools. The results show that some of the parents read relatively often and that they all read aloud to their children on a daily basis. They have all been library attenders at some point in life. The reason for not using the library presently varies. Some parents prefer to buy books so that they do not need to think about returning them. Some of them are also discouraged by their image of the library as a place where you must be quiet. These parents also tend to forget that the library exists or believe that it mainly targets other demographic groups. The library can address some of these problems and some not, for instance by developing marketing strategies, implement technical applications that send reminders in advance when books are due back and a more inviting environment.

This Master’s Thesis aims to examine the attitudes concerning gender issues among children’s librarians. The main purpose is to examine what their views on the subject are, and if they consider gender issues when acquiring and mediating books. We are also interested in their opinions about gender stereotyping in children’s books. We have chosen to interview eight children’s librarians. This is our primary method, which we will combine with theories on gender and reading. The interviews showed that the biggest gender issue in general is the predominance of female librarians. Other than that there were few discussions on the subject at the libraries. The role as mediator was more reflected upon. The general view was that there is a delicate balance between too much interference and too little. The librarians consider promoting the children’s interest in reading to be their greatest concern, and this means gender issues might be overlooked. Their greatest influence is achieved through their choice of which books to acquire, and how they promote these. There are differing opinions on gender stereotyping in books among the librarians. The stereotypes can facilitate reading comprehension, as the children easily recognise the characters and identify with them. They can also limitate the child’s frame of reference.